Mechanism for driving the plate and impression cylinders of a printing press



27. 1968 MINORU HIROSE 3,393,631

MECHANISM FOR DRIVING THE PLATE AND IMPRESSION CYLINDERS OF A PRINTING PRESS Filed Nov. 23, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Aug. 27. 1968 MINORU HIRO FOR DRIVING THE PLA YLINDERS OF A PRINTING PRESS 3,398,681 TE AND IMPRBSSION MECHANISM C Filed Nov. 25, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 w w n m a a w i .h d u 6 United States Patent 3,398,681 MECHANISM FOR DRIVING THE PLATE AND IMPRESSION CYLINDERS OF A PRINTING PRESS Minoru Hirose, Itami, Japan, assignor t0 Hamada Printing Press Mfg. Co., Ltd., Osaka, Japan Filed Nov. 23, 1965, Ser. No. 509,360 Claims priority, application Japan, Aug. 26, 1965, 40/ 70,431 2 Claims. (Cl. 101-216) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A drive mechanism for driving the plate and impression cylinders of a printing press. A vertical drive shaft extends upwardly from the base of the printing press along the front side of one leg of the front frame and has a bevel gear on the upper end thereof meshing with a first pair of bevel gears mounted on a short splined auxiliary shaft contained in a drive housing projecting forwardly from the front frame. The auxiliary shaft has a helical gear on the end thereof geared to a corresponding gear on the first impression cylinder shaft, and a clutch is positioned between the bevel gears. A horizontal connecting shaft extends between the first pair of bevel gears and a second pair of bevel gears and has gears thereon meshing with said pairs of gears. The clutch slides back and forth on the splined shaft under the action of a lever coupled thereto and operated from outside of the housing.

The present invention relates to a mechanism for driving the plate and impression cylinders of a printing press. More particularly, the invention relates to a drive mechanism for driving the plate and impression cylinders of a printing press, comprising a drive shaft installed on one side of the front frame of said press, two bevel gears mounted in face to face relation on said drive shaft, said bevel gears being in mesh with a lower bevel gear positioned on top of said drive shaft, a clutch positioned between the two bevel gears, 21 first bevel gear rigidly mounted on one end of a horizontal connecting shaft, said first bevel gear being in mesh with the two bevel gears mentioned above so as to constitute one of the drive systems for driving the plate and impression cylinders, with the other end of said horizontal connecting shaft being connected with the bevel gears of another system for driving the plate and impression cylinders positioned forwardly and on the other side of said front frame.

The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view of the printing press provided with the driving mechanism of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a transverse section, in part, showing the driving mechanism of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a partially exploded view, in section, of the clutching portion of the present driving mechanism;

FIG. 4 is a close-up view of the front of the portion shown in FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the reversing action of the clutch mechanism of the invention.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, between the arches constituted by front and rear frames 1 and 1 are pivotally installed two sets of impression cylinders 3 and plate cylinders 2 in such a manner that the peripheral surface of each of said plate cylinders 2 comes in intimate contact with the corresponding one of said impression cylinders 3,398,681 Patented Aug. 27, 1968 vided on the front of and on one side of said front frame 1 is a drive mechanism 5, which consists of a drive shaft 6 mounted centrally through said drive housing 4, a helical gear 7 fixed to on one end of said drive shaft 6, a horizontal connecting shaft 8, a first bevel gear 9 fixed on said horizontal drive shaft 8, bevel gears in mesh with bevel drive gears 10, 10 which are bearing mounted in face-to-face relation on the other end of said shaft 6. A clutch 11 is located between said bevel gears 10 and 10.

Referring, now, to FIG. 3, said clutch 11 is freely slidable as its boss 24 is loosely fitted onto a spline 23 formed on said drive shaft 6. Teeth 12, 12 are formed, in required numbers, along the peripheral edges 25, 25 of the two projections of said clutch, and a roller 45 on the forward end of a lever 14 is loosely fitted into a central groove 26 of the clutch, said roller 45 on the forward end of lever 14 remaining within said groove 26, irrespective of the rotation of the clutch. The teeth 12, 12 of the clutch 11 are brought into engagement with the internal gears 13, 13 of the corresponding bevel gears 10, 10 when the lever 14 is operated.

Other features of the present invention will now be described with reference to FIGS. 3, 4, and 5.

The lever 14 has a rear end 27 which is forked as indicated by numeral 28, within which is loosely fitted an eccentric projection 34 of a crank shaft 30' mounted pivotally on a housing 29. The central portion of said lever 14 is pivotally mounted on a pin 32 on the forward end of a receiving block extending from the desired position on the drive housing 4. An outer housing 29, located outside the drive housing 4 enclosing said drive mechanism 5, has an opening 35, in which a journal 36 is rigidly installed. Mounted in said journal 36 is a projection 37 of said actuating shaft 30, said projection being provided with a hexagonal hole 38, into which one end of a hexagonal operating bar 39 is fitted. A recess 42 is formed on one side of said journal 36 and a plate 41 is rigidly affixed to the side of said journal 36 on the same plane as the external side 40 of said housing 29. Within said cavity 42 and in close contact with the internal side of said plate 41 is a pointer 43 which is rigidly mounted on said crank shaft 30. An enlarged portion 46 formed integrally with said crank shaft 30, on one of its lateral sides, is positioned in intimate contact with the other side of said journal 36. The enlarged portion 46 has a recess 47, and a stopper pin 52 screwed onto the journal 36 extends into said recess 47. A stepping pin 49 supported by a spring 50 is installed in a hole 48 bored in said enlarged portion 46 in such a manner that the end of the stepping pin 49 may fit any one of a plurality of stepping holes 51 in said journal 36.

To operate the above-mentioned clutch, the hexagonal operating bar 39 is inserted into the hexagonal hole 38 formed in the projection 37 of the crank shaft 30 mounted on the housing 29, and the crank shaft 30 is turned until it is set in a required position, thereby moving the projection 34 extending from the rear portion of said crank shaft 30. As the projection 34 is thus moved, the lever 14 connected thereto is actuated. When engaging the clutch, the stopper pin 52 is brought into contact with the lateral wall of the recess 47 and the stepping pin 49 is forced into the locking hole 51, thereby locking the crank shaft 30 in the journal 36. The internal gears 13, 13 formed on the internal side of bevel gears 10, 10 are in mesh with the above-mentioned teeth 12, 12. The hexagonal operating bar 39 of the clutch 11 extends through the housings 4 and 29. The lower sides of the two bevel gears 10, 10 are in mesh with a lower bevel gear 16 fixed on top of the vertical drive shaft 15 installed along the front columnar portion of the front frame 1, and said helical gear 7 is in engagement with an impression cylinder gear 18 mounted it on one of the projections of an impression cylinder shaft 17 arranged in parallel with a drive shaft '6. Mounted on the other projection of said impression cylinder shaft 17 is an impression cylinder gear 19 which is in mesh with a plate cylinder gear 21 mounted on a plate cylinder shaft 20.

The above arrangement ensures that the plate and impression cylinders run at the same speed.

The other drive mechanism indicated by reference numeral 22 in the drawings, is the same as the drive mechanism described hereinbefore, and serves the purpose of driving a plate cylinder 2 and an impression cylinder 3, which are provided on the opposite side from the side of the frames 1, 1 on which the first-mentioned drive mechanism is located. By means of a lower bevel gear 16 mounted on a drive shaft 15 which in turn is mounted within a drive housing 4, bevel gears 10, which are loosely mounted through hearings on a drive shaft 6 turn in opposite directions, thereby engaging the clutch 11 located between said two bevel gears 10, 10 with one of the bevel gears 10 so that the driving power is transmitted from said bevel gear to the drive shaft 6 and, thence, to the impression cylinder shaft 17 through the impression cylinder gear 18 in mesh with the helical gear 7, thereby driving the plate and impression cylinders.

It will, thus, be apparent that the direction of revolution of the plate and impression cylinders may be altered as desired by engaging or disengaging the clutch 11. The drive mechanisms 5 and 22 within the housings 4, 4 located outside of the front frame 1 of the printing press are connected with each other through a horizontal connecting shaft 8, and the plate and impression cylinders 2, 2 and 3, 3 connected with the driving mechanisms 5 and 22, respectively, are driven through the drive shaft which is connected with only one of said mechanisms.

These arrangements permit the concentration of the controls on one side of the front frame and, accordingly, facilitates the operation. It also makes it easier to ascertain the running condition of the press and remedy the troubles.

In addition, when a number of printing presses is installed in line, the running conditions of all the presses may be easily supervised.

As described hereinbefore, the bevel gears 10, 10 that are in mesh with the bevel gear 9 mounted on the horizontal connecting shaft 8 are located in face-to-face relation, with the clutch 11 interposed therebetween, and one of the operating bars 39 attached to the clutch 11 extends outside the housings so that the direction of revolution may be easily and positively altered.

It will be apparent from the foregoing description that the present invention represents a great contribution toward substantial reductions in size and further compactness of the printing press.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a drive mechanism for driving the first and second plate and impression cylinders mounted between the front and rear frames of a printing press having a vertical drive shaft, a first pair of bevel gears mounted in face-to-face relation on a shorter splined auxiliary shaft which also has a helical gear on the end thereof geared to a corresponding gear on the first impression cylinder shaft, a lower bevel gear fixed on the upper end of said vertical drive shaft and in mesh with one of said first pair of bevel gears,

a first clutch positioned between said first pair of bevel gears, a horizontal connecting shaff having a first bevel gear thereon in mesh with said first pair of bevel gears and having a second bevel gear at the other end in mesh with a second pair of bevel gears and a second clutch between said second bevel gears, that improvement comprising two housings, a drive housing and an outer housing, projecting forwardly from the front frame of the printing press, the drive housing enclosing the shorter auxiliary shaft, and said first pair of bevel gears, said first bevel gear fixed on the end of said horizontal connecting shaft and said helical gear on said shorter auxiliary shaft, the vertical drive shaft extending upwardly from the base of the printing press along the front side of one leg of the front frame of the printing press, said clutch having a boss loosely fitted on the splined shorter auxiliary shaft, a mounting block extending inwardly from the wall of said one drive housing, a lever having the central portion pivotally mounted on the inner end of said block and a fork on the rear end thereof, a roller rotatably mounted on the forward end of said lever, said clutch boss having a groove therein in which said roller is movable, a crank shaft having an eccentric projection loosely fitted within the fork at the rear end of said lever, the outer housing on said front frame located outside said drive housing, said outer housing having an opening thereing with a journal in said opening, said crank shaft having an outer projcction mounted in said journal, said outer projection having a hexagonal hole therein, a hexagonal operating bar having one end fitted into said hole, whereby when the hexagonal operating bar is turned the crank shaft is turned until said projection is moved and the lever connected thereto is actuated so that the teeth of the clutch are brought into engagement with the internal gears of one or the other of the pair of bevel gears.

2. The improvement as claimed in claim 1, wherein said journal has a recess in the outer face thereof, a plate rigidly aflixed to the side of the journal in the same plane as the external side of said outer housing, a pointer rigidly mounted on said crank shaft within said cavity and in close contact with the internal side of said plate, said crank shaft having an enlarged portion formed integrally therewith positioned in intimate contact with the other side of said journal, said enlarged portion having a recess, a stopper pin on the journal and extending into said recess, and a spring loaded stepping pin in a hole bored in said enlarged portion, the end of the stepping pin cooperating with any one of a plurality of stepping holes in said journal.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,259,899 3/1918 Paluska 74378 1,680,018 8/1928 Granger 101--220 1,970,491 8/ 1934 Crafts 270-5 1,970,929 8/1934 Wood 270-5 1,972,506 9/1934 Wood 270-5 2,102,631 12/1937 Lamatsch 101-220 XR 2,150,672 3/1939 Davis.

3,191,531 6/1965 Worthington et a1. l01219 ROBERT E. PULFREY, Primary Examiner.

J. R. FISHER, Assistant Examiner. 

